UGA Football Releases Highlights of "Epic" 8 OT win over the Yellow Jackets
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ATHENS - UGA football released highlights of the program's eight-overtime win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Monday night.
Georgia trailed 17-0 at halftime, was dominated for much of the game, and trailed 27-13 with 5:37 to play. Then came the rally. With 1:01 remaining, the Bulldogs drew even on quarterback Carson Beck’s second touchdown pass to Dominic Lovett in the closing minutes. And in overtime, the teams traded scores and failed attempts until Georgia’s defense stopped Tech and then Nate Frazier ran the ball in from the three-yard lins in the eighth overtime.
It was the in-state rivals’ first meeting on a Friday since 1994 (Georgia won 48-10) and their first non-Saturday game since 1995, when the Bulldogs won 18-17 on Thanksgiving Day. Georgia now leads the all-time series 72-39-5.
Up next for Georgia is next Saturday’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta against either No. 3 Texas or No. 20 Texas A&M — they play Saturday afternoon with a spot in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the line. The Bulldogs will be playing for the conference championship for the fourth year in a row.
HUNKER DOWN THE CHIMNEY
Georgia ended its regular season with a record of 10-2, while Tech finished at 7-5. The Yellow Jackets out-gained the Bulldogs 563-405, but Georgia managed to claw its way back from a couple of big second-half deficits and prevail. Georgia outscored Tech 44-25 after halftime.
Georgia Tech got the ball to start the game and on its first play running back Jamal Haynes bounced off some Bulldogs and burst free for a 59-yard gain to the UGA 31-yard line. Tech got to the 13-yard line before Georgia’s defense held the Yellow Jackets to a 31-yard Aidan Birr field goal and an early 3-0 lead.
Tech drove into Georgia territory on its second drive, too, but the Yellow Jackets tried to run up the middle on fourth-and-1 at the 25 and were stopped for no gain. Linebacker Raylen Wilson made the stop to turn Tech over on downs. The Bulldogs took over at their 26 and drove down to the Tech 14 only to come up short on their own fourth-and-1 rush.
Haynes got Tech’s next drive off to an explosive start, rushing for 22 yards on the final play of the first quarter. It was the fifth time this season that the Bulldogs failed to score in the first 15 minutes. Tech’s next play was a 25-yard completion to the Bulldog 39. The Yellow Jackets got as close as the UGA 7 before having to settle for a Birr 25-yard field-goal attempt. The ball hit the left upright and bounced to the outside, keeping the score at 3-0.
Georgia couldn’t do anything with the break and soon Tech had the ball back. This time, the Yellow Jackets drove for a touchdown, scoring on a 2-yard run by quarterback Haynes King for a 10-0 lead with 4:40 to go until halftime. The Bulldogs were able to move the ball into Tech territory on their next drive, but the Yellow Jackets then produced the game’s first turnover, forcing a fumble on a Dominic Lovett reception.
Tech’s offense went right back to work and soon took a 17-0 lead on a 4-yard touchdown pass from King to Haynes. Georgia’s Peyton Woodring’s 53-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the half, into a headwind, came up short. Tech ended the half with 307 yards of offense and 15 first downs, while the Bulldogs had 137 yards and seven firsts. It was the first time Georgia had been shut out in the first half since 2019.
The Bulldogs got the ball to start the second half, but it wasn’t until their second drive that Georgia got on the scoreboard. An Arian Smith run went for 30 yards to the Tech 21, and Beck later hit Cash Jones out of the backfield for 11 yards to the 8. On second down at the 2, Beck hit tight end Oscar Delp for a 2-yard touchdown. Georgia went for the two-point conversion but came up empty, making it 17-6 with 9:53 left in the third.
Georgia Tech started its next drive at its 4 after a botched return, but the Yellow Jackets still drove for a score at the end of an 18-play drive that lasted more than 10 minutes. Tech converted a fourth-and-3 at the Bulldog 37 and later went ahead 20-6 on a 23-yard field goal with 14:17 left in the game.
The Bulldogs responded with a 13-play drive that ended with a 1-yard Nate Frazier rushing touchdown with 8:18 to go, making it 20-13 following Woodring’s extra point. Georgia caught a break with a pass interference call against Tech on a fourth-and-four pass attempt that came up empty. It was Frazier’s seventh touchdown in the last five games.
Tech answered right back, getting 33 yards on a third-and-7 at the Bulldog 49, and later went ahead 27-13 with 5:37 remaining after King ran 11 yards for a touchdown. Georgia quickly followed that with an eight-play touchdown drive that lasted just under two minutes and ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Lovett, cutting the Tech lead to 27-20 with 3:39 remaining.
Georgia’s defense gave the Bulldogs a chance. On third-and-1 at the Tech 31, King ran for the first down but was stripped by safety Dan Jackson and linebacker Chaz Chambliss recovered at the Tech 32 with 2:02 to play. The Bulldogs took full advantage of the turnover, tying the game 27-all with 1:01 remaining on Beck’s 3-yard touchdown pass to the right side to Lovett.
The Bulldog defense stopped Tech near midfield in the final minute, and soon the game was headed to overtime. It was the first Georgia-Georgia Tech game to head to OT since the rivals did it in 2013 and ’14.
In overtime, Georgia got the ball first and struck first, scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Beck to wideout London Humphreys. The Bulldogs’ first lead of the game came in overtime, 34-27. Tech answered to force a second overtime, scoring on a 12-yard touchdown pass from King to wideout Eric Singleton, Jr.
Tech got the ball first to start the second overtime and needed just three plays to score, going up 40-34 on King’s 1-yard rush. On the mandatory two-point attempt in the second OT, Georgia’s Smael Mondon Jr. broke up King’s pass attempt.
The Bulldogs, knowing they needed a touchdown, got one on the first play, a 25-yard touchdown from Beck to Cash Jones on the left side to make it 40-40. On the two-point try, Beck’s pass to Humphreys fell incomplete, sending the game to a third extra period in which the teams only get one attempt from the 3-yard line.
Georgia’s attempt, a pass to the left side, fell incomplete. Tech then had a chance to go for the win, and the Yellow Jackets also threw incomplete. And on to the fourth overtime they went, with Tech getting the ball at the 3-yard line first.
King’s pass fell incomplete on Tech’s attempt, giving the Bulldogs a shot at a hard-fought win. And on their play from the 3, Beck’s scramble for the end zone came up short. In the fifth overtime, Beck hit wideout Dillon Bell for the score, and Tech followed with a King scoring pass to Malik Rutherford. And on to the sixth overtime the teams went.
Tech went first in the sixth and Jackson made another huge defensive play, bursting through the middle to sack King. All Georgia’s offense needed was to get into the end zone on the next play in a game that had everything — but Beck’s pass into the end zone was tipped by Bell and dropped by Smith.
In the seventh overtime, Beck’s rush attempt came up short. Tech then could go for the win, and the Yellow Jackets drew a pass interference flag in the end zone on their pass attempt. Now starting from the 1, Tech’s rush attempt came up short.
The SEC record for most overtimes was eight, which this game tied. In the eighth OT, linebacker CJ Allen’s pressure forced an incompletion on King’s pass attempt, and again Georgia was just one play away. On the Bulldogs’ attempt, Frazier scooted through the middle for victory.